Most Important Factors Influencing the Purchase of Instructional Materials
Classroom Trends
Most Important Factors Influencing the Purchase of Instructional Materials
Ease of use
Has had positive reviews / evaluations
Recommended by other educators
Research based
From a well-known , reputable company
Includes an assessment component
final decision makers for purchases of the instructional materials intended for wide use in district classrooms . They do , however , participate in the purchasing process in a variety of roles . Between 30 % to 40 % report having some level of influence over the purchase of school supplies , supplemental materials , and textbooks — as either final decision makers or by serving on a purchasing committee . Nearly a quarter are final decision makers for school supplies and 12 % for supplemental materials . Another third describe themselves as influencers , who review products . Teachers are most likely to say they have no involvement in the purchase of formative assessment products and instructional technology .
Factors That Influence Teachers ’ Buying Decisions
Whether acting on their own behalf or in a larger district role , without question , ease of use is the most important factor . Ensuring any new material is easy to use hastens the time to implement in the classroom , making it better for the teacher and her students . Word-of-mouth has always been an important factor in
68 %
64 %
61 %
75 %
75 %
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the school market , so it is no surprise that 75 % of teachers rank recommendations by other educators as an important factor in making purchase decisions . Continuing demands for improved student achievement means that schools must also make their best effort to select products that have positive reviews and evaluations , with 75 % of educators citing this factor as important . In the same vein , 68 % of teachers rank research based as an important factor in purchasing .
90 %
Teachers as Curriculum Writers
While teachers have always created their own instructional materials — reformatting bingo boards into phonics games and , more recently , creating videos that help deliver flipped learning — the nature of that exercise is changing . Over the last seven years , as schools and districts transitioned to the Common Core or their state ’ s chosen standards system , they were challenged to find resources that adequately met their needs . Therefore , they turned inward , resulting in educators becoming curriculum developers . What once was an isolated activity undertaken by individual teachers has become a district-sponsored effort to create curricular content aligned to new standards and attuned to the unique needs of the district ’ s students .
Classrooms once organized around the print textbook are rapidly making the transition to digital and seeking out more modular content that supports efforts to personalize learning . Textbooks are not disappearing , but in an increasing number of classrooms they are no longer the organizing principle . Teams of teachers are creating the curriculum , searching for aligned resources , Integrating games and apps into instruction and exploring Open Education Resources ( OER ).
Time Spent Using Teacher-Created Instructional Materials
Teachers , schools , and districts increasingly rely on instructional materials they create themselves . Twothirds of teachers use — at least once a week — materials that they or other school staff have developed . Nearly as many teachers ( 62 %) use free materials , other than OER , found on the Internet . More than half report using digital instructional materials at least once a week . But textbooks and other more traditional resources continue to be a core component of instruction . Just over half of teachers say that they use commercial materials provided by their school , district , or state at least weekly . Use of Open Educational Resources is more limited , with only 19 % of teachers reporting weekly use .
Teachers use locally developed materials more frequently , with 42 % of teachers reporting daily use . The remaining resources are each used daily by roughly 25 % of teachers , though OER are used daily by only 6 % of
8 essentials | summer 2017